Intergovernmental relations: the hidden dimension of government

While federalism is constitutionally recognized in most federal countries to include only two levels of government, scholars and practitioners know the importance of other governments - particularly local governments - and other actors in the operation of federal systems. Today’s intergovernmental scholarship recognizes a wide variety of participants including nonprofit organizations, interest groups and associations, universities and citizens who make up networks of participants in intergovernmental affairs. This chapter outlines what we know about the intergovernmental lobby, intergovernmental agreements, and intergovernmental organizations. It highlights the role of bargaining and delegation; it discusses research related to the empowerment and preemption of local governments. Scholarship on multi-level governance has led to long-needed longitudinal study of intergovernmental relations and can lead to much more. Centralization trends are also key to this chapter which ends with possible centralization in U.S. elections and potential threats to federalism.